Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-04-28
About Women.

WIG scAos upon q 10snlOn0Ol0 WOmAnE
new hat and wrap last week. Her little
lace and jet affair that fits so jauntily
over her shoulders and looks as airy and
hight as the spring morning itself IS not
such a gossamer, I can assure You. It
need weigh next to nothing but it can
and does run asxt to thirty pounds. The
long and dignifed raglan that covers
the figure from top to toe has posi-
| bIlltles in the way of beads that are not
granted 1t for nothing and it improves
tAem TO the full. Forty pounds have
seen IL weight. The bonnet hardly knows
the meenlng Of avoirdupois till it makes
the acc ualntance of that black king Jet.
put then 1t weighs down the scales in
| right lordly fashion. Four pounds is
little enough for beaded crown. and
| there are heads that submit to eight and
nine. Forty-five pounds I have known a
jstted gown to weigh; plus thirty for the
wrap and i've for the bonnet, the snm is
a nice little total of eighty pounds for the
proverbially delicate American woman to
carry about with her on hcr promenades.
Those who are in the habit of indulO-
ing In raw onions, says medical man.
May be cOnsoled for the eoczal disadvan.
tages which ensue by the fact that onions
are about the best nervine known. No
medicine is really SO efficacious in case of
nervous Prostration, and they tone IN q
worn out system e short time. Their
absorbent powers are also most valuable
especially in times of epidemic. It has
been repeatedly observed that an onion
patch In the immediate vicinity of
house acts as a shield against the pesti-
lence, which is very apt to pass over the
inmates of that house. Sliced onions in
sick room absorb all the germs and
prevent contagiOn. During an epidem-
lc a confirmed onion eater should, how
however. eschew his usual diet, as the
germs of the disease are present in the
onion and contagion can easily result.
The process of discriminating birds of
gay plumage fer the decoration of cloves
OF bonnets" has gone so far that the
scientific world has lifted up both hands
IN protest. The elephant seems destined
to become a curiosity of the past on &C
count of the unsparing greed for ivory
which gives him no chance to perpetuate
his species. The Indian government has
tried to protect him by stringent season
laws, but statutes are almost powerless
against human avarice. The crocodile
bids fair to go, since his hide is wanted
by pursemakers and shoemakers. There
will soon be no bird of paradise upon
earth, and the ostrich has only escaped
through the thrift of private breeders.
The quagga, the beautiful wild striped
ass of South Africa, has become extinct
because the sportsmon of London and
New York craved boots from it's hide. If
only tigers claws had become fashionable
for bonnet gewgaws and brooches tigers
would have become "Reminiscences before
n n fool
faster than nature can create. What will
be the end Of itP Long before the earth
can cool man will have devoured all it's
natural products and will live merely upon
what he manufactures.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox is in Havana and
sends back newspaper letters to the west
ern papers, She says: all it's sights and
scenes are wholly foreign to the states.
Shop women-many of them young and
pretty-old market women -negresses
children not more than years old smoke,
not merely cigarettes, but are frequently
seen on the streets putting immense
cigars. Children semi or wholly nude
play in open courts or run on the busy
streets in beautiful innocence, unnoticed
save by the visitors, whose minds have
been trained in the immodesty of civiliza-
ton. Beggars enter tho dining rooms of
the best hotels and impertune us at the
table until driven out by the walters, who
pursue with rolling r-r-rs and threatening
napkins; and toddling infants, old men,
and hobbling cripples everywhere follow
you with lottery tickets, which apparent
ly no visitor ever buys.
The orchid craze is one of the most ex-
pensive hobbies a woman can have.
Once in England a rich but 'low-born"
woman got herself into royal society by
cultivating orchids and making a collec-
ton that was the talk of England and
WOE the smart owner a visit from the
queen. Orchids are air plants and grow
up in the air fastened on the trunks of
trees. They sometimes drop down eight
De ten feet and bloom profusely, some
times having as many as 300 blossoms on
a single plant. They come from all lati-
tudes, will grow under all climatic oondi
tons, and are as fascinatingly curious as
monkeys. They resemble in appearance
reptiles, insects, animals, and there is one
that looks the picture ola white robed man
They are enormously expensive. A plant
may cost hundreds of dollars. The rich
est colors known are displayed by orchids.
They stay in bloom long time, and an
orchid has been known to retain its flow
Though Henry George has acquired
such large celebrity, bis wife's name has
hardly been mentioned in the papers that
speak of him so often and so much. She
is thorough home body, devoted to her
husband and their four children. She is
one of the small, plump, CHEEKY bodies
that never get down-hearted, and people
who have known them long time say
that but for her unfagging devotion and
enthusiastic belief in him Mr.. George
would never have been able to come tri-
umphantly through the long period of
stratened means and hard work which
preceded his sudden success.
Lucy Stone, to all young women whom
she meets in any way whatever, is the
personifcation of motherliness. Ono ia
voluntarily thinks of her as being the
ideal matron of a home for young girls.
She is small, and increasing years have
made her rather stout, while her fresh
and rosy complexion causes her to look
much Younger than she really is.